FFVIII Dynasty
by KittensXmittens
Summary: The original characters have settled down and their kids are off fighting the bad guys. Things aren't that simple though, as they will soon find out. CHAPTER 4 NOW COMPLETE!
1. A new era

**Summery of Chapter One: **20 years after the battle with Ultimecia, the kids of the original characters are SeeDs and are sent on a mission

**Disclaimer: **All original FF characters are not mine as much as I would love them to be. All characters that I have made up are mine exclusively, unless I give permission for them to be used.

**FFVIII Dynasty**

**Chapter One: A new Era**

"Storm Leonhart, please report to the Commander's office."

A black-haired young man paused in the corridor. He let out an audible sigh as he wondered whether he was in trouble for something. His dad didn't sound angry, but then when it came to deciphering Squall Leonhart's moods nobody could damn well tell. Except his mother anyway, she seemed to have the strange ability to always know what his father was thinking.

Storm grudgingly turned around and started back the way he had come. He did have plans today to hang out with his friends in the Quad, but that would have to wait. He couldn't keep his father waiting for long and besides, it might be about a mission. He hadn't been on a mission in ages and was getting bored.

Storm was a tall youth, and the way he dressed made him look taller. He wore a black tee-shirt underneath a short black leather jacket. On the back of his jacket was a silver stylised winged lion surrounded by lightning bolts, which was Storm's symbol. He also wore loose black jeans, comfortable for fighting in. People constantly thought that he dressed the way he did because his father dressed in a similar way when he was younger. Storm ignored what they said because he didn't give a damn what they thought. He dressed in what was comfortable to him, and so what if his father used to wear the same sort of clothes? It was cool, and Storm applauded his father on his good sense of style.

The sun shone down on the young man with the dark bangs of hair. He lifted his head, shading his brown eyes with a hand. He let out another sigh, he had been looking forward to enjoying the sun, but now he was going to be cooped up inside for goodness knows how long. On the plus side, his father was a man of few words, so hopefully he would be out soon.

He went through a pair of doors and headed out onto the circular walkway. He turned right to get to the elevator.

"Hey, yo, Storm!"

Storm turned to face the direction of the shout, grinning as he saw his friend, Jonathon Kinneas, pacing towards him, his two sets of nunchucks hanging around his neck and a light sheen of sweat on his face.

"Hey, Jon. You been training?"

"Yep, needed the practise. We haven't been on a mission in so long.. Oh, speaking of missions, I heard the announcement. I reckon we are due a mission, things have been quiet recently." Jon ran a hand through his shaggy brown hair.

"They haven't been quiet. Other teams have been on missions. Only reason we haven't been on one in ages is because after that Malboro fiasco, they've been too scared to send us. Luckily, all the other teams are out at the moment so looks like if it is a mission, they are gonna have to send us," Storm said as he chuckled.

"Well that's good then. You had better get up there then. Wouldn't like to keep 'Daddy' waiting, would you?" Jon laughed as he dodged a mock blow from Storm.

"Whatever. See you in a bit. Round up the gang if they aren't in the Quad already, will ya?"

"Sure, sure." Jon squinted his indigo eyes. "Oh, shit, there's your creepy sister. Bye!" And with that, Jon was away.

The tall youth looked in the direction Jon had looked in. He couldn't see her at first but then he saw her, standing behind a grouping of flowerpots somebody had left in one of the spokes leading off to different areas of the Garden. It was definitely her, he could tell by her long, lank, straight jet black hair. For some reason, even though she was his sister, he always felt uncomfortable around her. She looked at him balefully with her cold grey eyes. Suddenly, she smiled at him and gave a little sarcastic wave. He snorted and started walking up the stairs to the elevator. When he looked around, she was gone. He shrugged and got into the small elevator. He pressed the button for the third floor and the doors closed with a smooth whoosh. Storm tapped one foot on the floor as the lift made its way past the second floor and up to the third. The doors opened with a small 'ding'.

Storm stepped out into the area that used to be Cid's waiting room when he had been Headmaster at Balamb Garden. In those days Storm would have had to walk straight ahead into the office. But of course, that had been ruined by the giant pillar in the middle of the room that led up to the navigation deck. Balamb Garden still moved to different places in the world and besides, nobody had figured out how to get rid of the pillar. Not even Nida, not even after twenty years.

So instead of walking straight ahead, Storm instead walked around to the other side of the elevator shaft and knocked on the door there. This was his father's office. It used to be Cid's living room as part of a whole suit, but Squall had decided to turn it into a new study and office instead. Leading off from it were a bedroom, kitchen and bathroom. Storm guessed that his parents didn't really need anything other than that, considering they had the whole Garden to live in.

"Come in!"

Storm opened the heavy door and walked in, careful not to let it slam behind him. He looked at his father, sitting behind the ornate desk. At thirty-eight years old, Squall Leonhart still looked young, as did Rinoa, Storm's mother. Squall still had bright piercing eyes, a strong body and could beat Storm's butt in a training session. In fact, he regularly did.

Squall didn't wear the same sort of clothes as he used to. He'd had to tone it down to make the right impression on visiting dignitaries. So now he wore dark suits chosen by Rinoa. But when he could get away with it he wore black tee-shirts and black slacks, mostly when he was training. Storm knew that his Dad still kept his old fur lined jacket though. He had seen it hanging up in Squall's closet once.

"Sit down, Storm. And stop fidgeting." Squall smiled slightly.

Storm took a chair in front of the desk. He gripped the arms of the wooden chair so he wouldn't fidget. His father hated people who fidgeted.

"'Sup Dad?"

Squall sighed and looked intently at his son. Storm, who was only seventeen years old and was already a great fighter rapidly climbing the ranks of SeeD. He was just a year younger than Squall himself had been when Ultimecia was defeated. (_At least Storm is outgoing, not like me at his age. Not like Kaela_)

"Against my better judgement, I have decided to place your team on this mission," Squall handed over some papers to Storm. Actually, it had been Rinoa who had made him do it. She had quite rightly pointed out that all the other teams were out already. At first Squall had been up for doing it himself but then Rinoa had pulled her trademark bottom lip wobble. He couldn't stand it when she did that. It got him every time.

"And Storm?"

"Yeah, Dad?"

"Don't you dare pull a stunt like you did with that Malboro. We had to give them a discount it was so bad."

"Daaaaad, that was because of all the tentacles. I bet a… pack of Grendels? Yikes, anyway, these Grendels won't have tentacles. Ergo, no problem." Storm folded his arms and leaned back in his chair.

"Whatever. Go on, get your team sorted. Your train leaves soon. The tickets are in this envelope." Squall tossed over an envelope and Storm grabbed it before it could fall off of the desk.

"See ya later, Dad." Storm stood up and gave a lazy salute before turning around and leaving.

Outside he bumped into his mother. He opened his mouth to say hi but his mother cut him off.

"You have a mission to attend, so no standing around jawing to your dear old mum." She said, wiggling a finger at him.

Storm sighed and walked on.

"Your not old!" He yelled over his shoulder whilst smiling.

"Go, shoo!" His mother yelled back.

He walked around to where the elevator doors were and got in.

…

His friends were waiting downstairs with their weapons and backpacks.

Kaijin stepped forward. Kai took after her mother, Fujin. When it came to looks anyway. With her shoulder length silver hair, slim build and her sparkling blue eyes, Kai was easily one of the prettiest girls in Garden. She held her silver staff, Starsteel, at her side. Storm couldn't stop himself thinking how pretty she looked in her white strap top and black leggings.

"Xu told us to prepare. See, we have your things too." She beckoned her brother forward.

At nineteen years old, Rheo was the eldest of the group. A full two years lay between he and Storm and yet he knew he could never be leader. He, unlike his sister, took after his father, Raijin in appearance with his brown hair and muscular physique but he had his mother's blue eyes. He rarely spoke. His two wicked Dao knives were strapped to his hips and he carried Storm's gun blade, Penalty, in one hand and a backpack in the other. He handed both over to Storm.

"Thanks guys." He looked over the rest of his team. There was Jon, the newest addition to the team, but not his friends. Jon carried his nunchuks, Oracle and Perception, around his neck still. Apparently it was convenient.

Then there was Nina, Jon's older sister. She was eighteen years old and pretty to boot. Her brown pixie haircut emphasised her brown doe eyes. She was really shy and spent a lot of time in the library. But she knew how to fight. She had inherited all her father's talents with a gun. Her gun, Reality, was strapped to her back, ready for action.

"Lets head out."

On their way through the exit, they saw Angela, Storm's younger sister. With her honey brown hair and bluish grey eyes, everybody agreed that she was a young beauty. With her was Flight, her dog, one of the great Angelo's descendants. She waved at them cheerfully as they left.

…

The journey to Balamb town was peaceful. They chatted among themselves as they walked along the curving path. They could have driven but they had the time to spare.

Storm found himself walking with Kai, his friends just ahead. He was grateful but at the same time was annoyed with his friends for manouvering themselves that way. Luckily she hadn't seemed to notice.

He took a swipe at a bite bug as it buzzed lazily past. It dropped to the ground dead and Storm felt a tiny surge within himself as he got a little stronger.

"I can't believe you still bother with bite bugs," Kai said softly.

"They're annoying."

"So are a lot of things but I don't go around whacking them."

"You're on their side now are you?"

Kai turned to him and he saw that she was smiling. She'd been pulling his leg. Storm grinned.

Just then, out of a nearby forest, a rampant T-Rexaur came charging at them. They quickly got into battle stance only to have to dive out of the way. They had just reformed when it came charging at them again. Nina quickly pulled out her gun and aimed at the creature. SLAM, it's kneecap shattered as a pulse round hit it. That stopped it charging, but it still managed to stand and it was still dangerous as it lashed its tail and tried to bite them.

Storm ran alongside it, dodging the tail as he left a trailing gash along its side. Midway he pulled the trigger and a huge shockwave reverberated into the T-Rexaur. It screamed in agony and tried to reach around to bite Storm but he flipped out of the way.

Meanwhile, Jon, Kai and Rheo were smashing their weapons into the T-Rexaur at every available opportunity whilst Nina was busy making pot shots at the beast.

The T-Rexaur wasn't going down without a fight and managed to use its tail on Storm, sending him smashing into a tree. He groaned as he got up, but then felt a power welling up inside him.

"Everybody, out of the way!" he cried as he ran towards the monster. "Renzokuken!" he yelled, and jumped into the air. He started smashing blow after blow into the T-Rexaur. After about six hits he jumped to the floor to take a breath before charging up his final attack. When he was ready he screamed, "Impending Infinity!" and jumped into the air. He started spinning in the air until he was a whirlwind, picking up stones and other debris from the floor. He was now a sandstorm. He collided with the monster and let the whirlwind do its job as he smashed more blows into the beast. Eventually the sandstorm died down, and Storm and the T-Rexaur fell to the floor. Storm was a bit out of breath but the T-Rexaur was a bloody, broken mess.

Jon grinned. "Remind me never to make you angry."

…

Balamb town was quiet as usual. As they walked up the station stairs Nina gave a nod and a smile to the Card Queen who was standing there. The Queen smiled back.

On the train, which was heading to Timber, Jon begged to be let into the SeeD carriage so Storm let him. Nina grabbed Rheo's arm and pulled him in too. Which left him alone with Kai again. A silence descended.

Storm was looking out of the window when Kai suddenly said; "I have noticed it, you know."

Storm jumped. "What?!" He looked at Kai, who was faintly smiling.

"The way they tend to 'accidentally' leave us on our own."

"Oh!" He scratched the back of his neck. "Right.." (_damn them, why do they do this to me?_)

Kai laughed. "Silly aren't they?" she said as she walked into the next compartment.

Storm just stood there and sighed. "Dunno about that.." he said softly and followed her.

…

The nest of Grendels turned out to be quite big, but they were mostly separated from each other as they hunted singly or in pairs during the night. So it was just a question of hunting _them_.

They split into two teams to hunt them down. Nina and Rheo on one team and Jon and Kai on the other. Storm split his time between the two teams, making sure they were ok.

The Grendels had infested a large sawmill just outside Timber. They were under obligation to get rid of all the Grendels before they went home as part of their contract. That meant searching every nook and cranny of the complex time and time again as they did not know just how many monsters there were. Turned out to be around fifteen of them in total.

When they were finished, Storm called his friends together and told them that because they were all exhausted, they would stay in Timber for the night. Everyone smiled at that. No way would they have managed to stay awake on the train ride back to Balamb.

…

Nina woke up midmorning in her and Kai's hotel room. After stretching out her aches and pains she went over to Kai's bed and shook Kai's shoulder. "Hey, wake up sleepyhead!"

Kai groaned but started stretching anyway. "Arrgh, my ribs!" she moaned, holding on to her left side.

"Ah. That would be from when that last Grendel smashed into your side." Nina said sympathetically.

"Feels more like a train did it." However, she got out of bed and yawned. "Have we got time for a shower?"

"Yeah, should do. I doubt the boys are up yet, the lazybones' so we should have a bit of time. Hows about you get one first. Get some nice warm water on that bruise, yeah?"

"Sure."

Nina watched as Kai walked painfully off to the shower." She got out her triple triad deck and started shuffling them to pass the time. But before she could get into it, she heard a knock on the door.

"You up girls?" It was Jon.

"Yes but Kai's in the shower at the mo and I'm getting one afterwards."

She heard him snort so she said, "Yeah well, you boys might be comfortable with your own reek but us girls aren't disgusting blobra's like you."

She listened carefully and heard him walking off. She heard something like "…blobra's… actually… clean." She smiled and put her cards away. Kai had turned the shower off, which meant she would be out soon.

…

They were waiting for their train to arrive when they heard a familiar voice shouting their names.

Storm turned to face the direction in which it had come from and gaped. "Sykes?!!"

**So what do you think? Let me know! Chapter Two coming soon!**


	2. An Old Friend

Summery of Chapter Two: **The gang catch up with an old friend**

**Disclaimer: **All original FF characters are not mine as much as I would love them to be. All characters that I have made up are mine exclusively, unless I give permission for them to be used.

**FFVIII Dynasty**

**Chapter Two: An Old Friend**

"Oh my gosh, Sykes!" Kai screamed before tearing up the platform to hug him.

Storm felt a momentary pang of jealousy but quickly brushed it away. He grinned as he sauntered coolly up to Sykes. Kai and him were just old friends from Galbadia Garden, nothing to worry about. He watched as Rheo greeted Sykes with a handclasp.

Storm reached over and greeted Sykes the same way Rheo had before Jon did the same. Nina hadn't met Sykes before so she hung back nervously.

"How's it going Sykes? How comes you're here? Not that I ain't glad to see ya of course," Jon asked.

"Yeah Sykes, what up?" said Storm.

"Well.." Sykes started to say.

"He's transferring to Balamb to take his SeeD test," a voice said behind them.

They turned around to see a blonde woman walking towards them.

"Hello Headmistress Trepe," Storm said, not at all surprised that Quistis was there. After all, she was Sykes' mother. Quistis was still a beautiful woman, even though a few lines had appeared around her eyes in recent years. And she was still intimidating to Storm, but he wasn't going to let on about that.

After everybody had greeted Quistis she sighed and said, "I wish you lot would call me Quistis. You're old enough to by now."

"Mum, your killing the mood," Sykes grouched.

She laughed. "Fine, I need to get back to Galbadia Garden. I'll say my goodbyes now shall I?" She grabbed Sykes and hugged him, despite his protests. Then she ruffled his long blonde hair and said, "You be good now, ok?"

"Sure Mum." Sykes said, trying to be civil in the face of embarrassment.

When Quistis had left, Sykes was silent until Kai said; "So you're coming to Balamb? That's so cool. We have tons to catch up on, you know?" She paused, looking at him. "Weird to think that its been two years since I last saw you."

Rheo nodded. "Two years.." he echoed softly.

"Yeah.." Sykes patted Kai on the arm. "I'm sorry I couldn't come and visit. It must have been hard on you two after your mum and dad.." He stopped abruptly.

"Died." Kai finished for him. She looked at the ground briefly before looking around at everybody. "Cheer up guys, come on. Sykes is here and we are all acting like depressos!"

That made people smile a little.

"So how are your parents, Sykes?" Jon asked.

"Well, Mum is busy, like always. Dunno about Seifer though. He hasn't visited in months."

"Sucks, huh?" Storm said.

"Not really. Its not like he was ever a major part of my life. Geez, I don't even think of him as being my father. All he did was screw Mum once."

There was another awkward silence before Sykes said, "So, just who is this gorgeous lady? Somebody please introduce us!"

Everybody laughed except Jon, who just narrowed his eyes. Kai, ignoring Jon's expression, pulled the blushing Nina towards Sykes. "This is Nina, Jon's sister. Nina, this is Sykes, me and Rheo's old friend. We used to hang out together in Galbadia Garden."

Nina went to shake Sykes' hand but instead he bent down and kissed it. Nina went red and quickly backed away. "Nicetomeetyou," she mumbled.

"And it is very nice to meet you, Nina," he replied.

"Sykes.." Jon said in a low tone.

"What? Just being polite. So, Nina, how comes I haven't seen you around before? I met Jon and Storm ages ago. But where have you been hiding?"

"Umm.."

"The library!" Kai chuckled.

"Yeah, Nina's such a bookworm, she rarely emerges!" Storm explained.

Sykes shrugged. "Books are cool."

Rheo shook his head and Kai grinned. "Says the guy who never even studies for tests!" She poked Sykes in the stomach and he laughed so she started tickling him. It was Storm's turn to narrow his eyes. Nina noticed Storm's expression.

"Kai, stop torturing the poor guy. I wanna ask him something and he can't speak with you tickling him like that," Nina said.

Kai stopped tickling Sykes and he looked over at Nina. "Ah, she speaks! What do you wanna know?"

Nina blushed again. (_gotta stop doing that_). She met his pure blue eyes with her green ones and looked away, to what was at his hip. "Is that a whipsword?" she asked.

"Uh, yeah. You wanna see it?"

Everybody else wandered off. They had seen his weapon before so it was nothing special to them. Sykes and Nina were left alone.

"I would love to," Nina said, excited.

Sykes took out his weapon. At first glance it was just a normal sword, but if you looked closely, there were thin breaks in the metal.

"See, if I put pressure on the hilt, right here," he pointed to the area before pushing down with his thumb. It loosened up instantly. "See how the shards of metal are linked by energy?"

Nina looked closer. The white energy ran through each shard of metal. "How does it do that? What makes it stay together?"

"You know, I have no idea. All I know is that it one of the bigwig scientists in Esthar came up with it."

"So how comes you have one then?" Nina asked, intrigued.

"Well, Mum wanted me to learn the whip and Seifer thought I should use a gunblade, or a sword at least. So anyways, Mum was talking to Laguna one day, when Laguna was still President, and he said that they had developed this new weapon called a whipsword. He owed Mum a favour so he repayed it by giving me this. Mum taught me the whip side of things and Seifer taught me the sword when he was around and could be bothered. I pretty much taught myself the sword actually. So.. yeah. That's the story."

"That's amazing. So what is it called?"

"Doom," he replied with a smirk.

Nina smiled, "That's a good name."

"Thanks. I hope you get to see my limit break one day. It's cool. What happens is that all the bits of metal.."

He was cut off by Storm shouting; "Train's coming!"

"Show you later." Sykes said and they went to join the others.

----------

On the train they all piled into the SeeD compartment and crashed on the couches. The train started and everybody relaxed.

"Nothing better than to go home after a good fight, huh?" Storm said and closed his eyes.

"Uh huh.." That came from Jon.

"Mmm." Nina.

"Well, I guess its my new home. Haven't had a decent fight in ages though. I'm jealous of you guys, being proper SeeD's."

"How comes you aren't a SeeD yet anyway? Last we heard, you were about to do your test. And that was a year ago," Storm asked Sykes.

"Really do not want to talk about that," Sykes replied.

"Fine, that's ok. So, uh, the test is in two weeks, right?"

"Yep."

"Hey, isn't Angela doing that test too?" asked Kai.

"Yeah," replied Storm, feeling proud of his little sister. "She'll be 16 by then, her party is in five days time."

"Uh, when is Kaela doing her test? Surely she should have done it by now?" Jon asked.

"She's not doing it." Storm said, almost snapping at Jon. He immediately felt guilty but Jon just took it in his stride.

"Oh, ok."

The train stopped. Bing bong bing "Attention passengers. There is a Behemoth on the line. If there are any skilled fighters on board please help otherwise we will be delayed. Thank you."

Storm snorted. "Ah, I bet they know we are on board. Come on guys, we're up."

Everybody groaned but grabbed their weapons and filed out of the compartment. Storm stopped Sykes as he tried to follow.

"Sykes, you aren't a SeeD. I can't take responsibility for you."

"Come on Storm," he said with an amused look on his face, "You know I'm good."

"Yeah, I know, but.."

"See ya out front then." Sykes pushed passed Storm and Storm followed, grumbling.

----------

The Behemoth was enraged by the metal object that had almost bumped into it and it snarled at the tiny creatures in front of it.

"What the heck is this doing around here anyway? You never get Behemoths around here!" Nina yelled at Storm as they ran towards the monster.

"I don't know. Creatures seem to have been doing that recently." Storm replied.

The Behemoth lunged at them when they reached it. Kai shielded everybody with Protect and started casting Demi on it. Whilst she was doing that, Jon cast Reflect on everyone in case the beast used Meteor on them. Demi took its toll on the Behemoth and the creature snarled and reared, striking Rheo as it landed.

"Argh!" yelled Rheo as he rolled along the floor. He quickly got to his feet and slipped his Dao knives from their place on either side of his hips. A glow surrounded him. "Dao Dance!" he cried as he charged towards the enemy. He sprang onto the beast and began slashing away at it with increasing speed. When he had built up enough momentum he joined his two knives together by a mechanism in their hilts whilst standing on the stunned Behemoth's back. The now single blade glowed white before Rheo plunged it deep into the beast. The Behemoth screamed and reared again. Everybody jumped out of its way as it landed, severely wounded but clearly still alive. Rheo withdrew his blade and jumped to the ground. He was quietly fuming as he swiftly disjoined his knives.

"This Behemoth must be on a high level," shouted Storm above the noise of battle. "It's gonna take a bit more to kill it. Nina!"

Nina nodded and levelled her gun at the beast, taking careful aim at the creature. She squeezed off a few rounds but the thrashing Behemoth refused to die.

Kai cast another Demi on the monster. Sykes loosened his whipsword and started lashing at the beast. Storm motioned for Nina and Sykes to pause as he rushed in, striking the Behemoth and leaving a gash on its neck.

"Anybody got Aura?!" Sykes yelled.

"Yeah!" Nina yelled back.

Sykes grinned. "Cast it on me, I think it's time to show you what I can do!"

Nina complied, casting Aura on Sykes. He was briefly surrounded by a pinkish orange glow before he steadily glowed yellow.

Sykes let the power rush through him and when he was ready he let it loose. He let go of his whipsword and it floated away until it was hovering above him. "Shatterblade!"

The whipsword followed his command, shattering into many white glowing shards. Everybody watched raptly as the shards started spinning around each other in midair. They quickly built up speed as Sykes concentrated on them and suddenly flew towards the Behemoth at the speed of bullets. They pierced the monster in hundreds of places, tearing straight through the beast, reappearing on the opposite side, reforming into the whipsword, which sped back to Sykes' hand.

The Behemoth was clearly defeated but managed to hold itself together as it cast one final spell. Meteor.

The gang stood still as the huge rocks pounded their reflect shields. The rocks bounced off of the reflect spell and went flying off to pound the Behemoth's body. Some rocks just missed the shields and slammed harmlessly into the ground around them, causing them to flinch every now and again.

Finally it was over and the rocks disappeared. Luckily the Behemoth had died next to the tracks instead of on them so they didn't have to deal with the grisly task of rolling the body away. The corpse would disappear quickly as it would be eaten by other monsters or would rot away swiftly.

"Wow." said Nina, in awe of Sykes' limit break.

"Nifty, huh? Takes a lot of concentration but totally worth it." Sykes grinned, proud.

"You sure have improved. Your old limit break wasn't half as good as that one," commented Storm.

"Yeah, well, practise makes perfect and all that."

"Better get back on the train." Kai pointed out.

"Come on then," Storm said.

----------

The rest of the train ride was uneventful. Everybody just rested up. One highlight in their journey was when an attendant stopped by to tell them that they got the money they paid for their tickets back.

"Dad'll be happy," Storm said, happy himself.

"So will my Mum," said Sykes.

"He's happy anyway at the moment, Storm. You know, 'cause of Angela doing so well." Jon said.

"Yeah, that's true." Storm laughed, "She's such a Daddy's girl."

"And a Mummy's girl," chuckled Nina.

"I just can't wait until her birthday party. Should be fun." Kai mused.

"Everyone got dates yet then?" Sykes asked.

"Um, no," replyed Storm.

"Nope," Jon said with a thoughtful look on his face.

Rheo shook his head.

"Nada," said Nina.

"I've been asked, but no," Kai said.

"Huh." Sykes was silent for a bit. "Hey, Nina?"

Nina jumped, "Uh, yes?"

"You wanna go to this party with me?"

"Um.."

Jon jumped in before she could say anything. "Hey, you're not even invited."

Kai scowled. "Shut up and stop being so overprotective. You know Sykes is a nice guy and of course he is invited." She looked over at Storm. "Right Storm?"

"Right, of course he has an invite. Anyway it's up to Nina, not you Jon."

Everybody looked at Nina, and she blushed before nodding.

"Is that a yes Nina?" Sykes asked and Nina nodded again. "Woohoo! You've just made my day," he cried, excited. Nina smiled.

"Now you _have_ to get a nice dress," said Kai, smugly.

----------

They arrived at Balamb Garden in the evening.

"Come on Sykes, I need to report to Dad and you have to see him 'cause you're new. Everybody else, take some R and R. Oh, and well done on the mission."

Everyone disbanded after agreeing to meet up in the morning at the Quad. Storm and Sykes headed up the stairs and into the elevator.

After giving his report, Storm found out that Sykes had been given the room next to his, so he showed Sykes where it was and then went to his own room. Time for some well deserved sleep.

**Omg, my fingers hurt. I just wrote that all in one sitting. Better be worth it =D**

**Think I need to recover for a few days. But fear not, chapter three will be here soon!**


	3. Who Fancies Who?

**Summery of Chapter 3: ****The gang prepares for the coming party!**

**Disclaimer: **All original FF characters are not mine as much as I would love them to be. All characters that I have made up are mine exclusively, unless I give permission for them to be used.

**FFVIII Dynasty**

**Chapter Three: Who fancies who?**

Angela was hanging around the stage, watching Storm strum on his electric guitar. It was only two days until her party and she could hardly wait. The past couple of days had been uneventful to say the least but she could feel something coming. Her mother felt the same thing, but stronger as Rinoa was a sorceress imbued with the powers of multiple sorceresses. Angela was a sorceress too, but she only had the powers she had been born with.

She sat on a chair watching her brother get ready for his band's performance. His band was called Griever and they regularly played in the Garden, Balamb Town and sometimes even Dollet. They were quite popular among the teenage population, with their vibrant rock sound.

"Hi Angela."

She glanced over at the stairs where she saw Jon casually walking down towards her. She smiled at him. "Hi yourself."

Jon grabbed a chair and dragged it over. He sat down on it back to front and rested his head atop his arms on the chair back. "Are you as excited as everybody else about your party?"

"Of course I am, silly."

He smiled. "Did you know Nina has a date?"

"No way! Who with?"

"Sykes."

"Huh. I haven't met him yet. I guess he must be an ok guy if you're letting him go out with your sister."

"Yeah, I guess so."

"Has anyone else got dates?" Angela asked excitedly.

"Umm, as far as I know, no. Storm's itching to ask Kai out but he needs a kick up the arse before he does that. And Rheo won't ask anyone to go with him."

"Oh, a guy asked Kaela out, I guess he was new, poor thing."

"Geez. What did she do to him?" Jon asked.

"Kicked him in front of a T-Rexaur."

"Wow."

"Yeah."

They sat in silence for a bit before Jon said, "So who are you going with?"

Angela smiled. "Nobody. Have you asked anyone?"

"Uh, I was kinda hoping to ask you."

"Me?" Angela blushed. "I don't know, I mean, why me?"

Jon looked at her with a pained expression on his face. He hated this sort of thing. But he pulled it together and said; "Because you're beautiful, kind, funny, smart and mostly because I've had feelings for you for a while now."

Angela looked pleasantly surprised. "I never knew. Why didn't you say anything before?"

Jon went red. "I was waiting for the right time. And your birthday party seems like it could be a great first date."

"Oh."

A minuet passed. Jon didn't know what Angela was thinking. She hadn't said yes, or no. So he said, "Um, so do you want to be my date?"

Angela looked at Jon, seeing him properly for the first time, as if she had new eyes. His light indigo eyes stared back at her and she melted. She didn't know what was between them, except maybe… potential.

"Yes."

----------

Storm's band was packing up their equipment. When Storm was finished he said goodbye to his band mates and headed over to Jon, who was waiting for him, looking slightly nervous.

"Hey man, what's up?"

"Uh, lets head somewhere quieter."

Storm frowned but motioned for Jon to head over to a balcony which was just off of the Quad.

When they got there Storm said, "So spill."

Jon fidgeted for a few seconds before blurting out; "I asked your sister to be my date for the dance."

Storm furrowed his brow. "You asked Kaela? But you don't like her. Wait, you're not the T-Rexaur guy are you?" He grinned. "Man, that was funny, but you know she's a…" He stopped speaking, seeing Jon's face. "You asked Angela? You dick, she's just a baby!"

Jon backed away as Storm took a step towards him. "She's sixteen in two days time. I'm only seventeen Storm! Why do you think I waited until now?"

"You, what?! You're waiting until she hits sixteen, and then what?! You're going to shag my sister because she'll be legal?! You're just as bad as your dad used to be!" Storm stopped for a breath and glared at Jon. "Just think of what _my _dad is going to say!"

Jon held up his hands. "Storm, I care about Angela. She's not a child anymore. I promise I'm not after sex. I want to take it easy with her. I respect her."

Storm just stared at a point in the distance.

"Storm?" No response. "Storm? Listen, I already talked to your mum about it and she says it's fine. She's gonna talk to your dad about it…"

Storm suddenly smiled. "Ha, I was just messing you around. Well, mostly anyways." His face suddenly became serious. "If you hurt her though I will personally shove you down a T-Rexaur's throat."

Jon nodded. "So, like, have you asked… someone to the dance?"

Storm blushed. "I ah, haven't gotten around to it."

"Kai is free still."

Storm just said, "Shut up"

"Oh come on Storm, everyone knows you like her."

"Shut. Up." Storm said and walked off

----------

Nina and Kai were in the library. Nina was reading a horror whilst Kai was doing her homework. Nina had of course, finished hers ages ago.

"Kai?"

"Uh huh?"

"Want some help?"

"I'm fine."

"Ok"

Just then, Angela walked in with a grin on her face.

"Hi guys!"

"Hi," Kai said.

"Hey sweetie. Come sit down. Don't mind Kai, she's working out the differences between junctionable and non-junctionable Gfs."

"Mm." Kai grunted, in deep study mode.

"Heard you have a date for the party Nina."

"I do indeed. I've only really just met him but he seems nice. Besides, he's a catch."

"Good looking huh? I've never met him."

Nina smiled and suddenly dropped her voice. "Here's your chance, he just walked in."

Sykes strolled over to their table. "Hello ladies," he drawled.

They all said hi to Sykes and Kai told him to sit down with them so he did, sprawling out in his chair.

Angela looked him over and had to agree with Nina's assessment. Sykes really was gorgeous with his shoulder length blonde hair and radiant blue eyes. Good fashion sense too. Sykes was wearing a black long sleeved tee-shirt with a deep purple short sleeved button shirt that was open all the way on top. On his legs he wore white cargo pants.

"You must be Angela, right?"

She nodded.

"Yeah, I remember seeing you when you were quite young. I think you were three and I was seven."

"Oh really? Wow, I don't remember that."

"Like I said, you were young. So, party in a few, huh?"

Angela nodded again and looked at the two girls. "I almost forgot to tell you, I have a date!"

The girls looked excited. "Who?" they asked in unison.

"Jon!"

Nina laughed. "Have fun," she said.

Angela looked smug. "I will." She tapped her fingers on the desk. "So… Kai, you're going with Storm, right?"

Kai raised an eyebrow and put down her pencil. "No Angela, I'm not."

"Oh why?" Angela whined.

"Well, number one he hasn't asked me. And number two… Actually I don't have a number two."

"So if he asks you, you'll go with him?" Nina questioned.

"Uh, yes." Kai blushed.

Sykes stood up.

"Where are you going Sykes?" Kai asked.

"I'm gonna go and kick Storm's butt."

Kai just buried her head in her arms and moaned, "Oh no…"

----------

Storm was in his room, watching a movie, when he heard a knock at his door.

"Yeah?"

"It's Sykes man. Gotta talk."

Storm went and opened his door. Sykes slipped in and turned off the tv.

"Hey!" Storm protested.

"Yo, when are you gonna ask Kai out? She's waiting for you to ask her."

Storm just snorted. "Like hell."

"She is man! She said so herself like, five minutes ago!"

Storm just stood there.

"Just ask her to the party, ok?"

There was another knock at the door. "Storm? Is Sykes in there?" It was Kai. Storm glared at Sykes.

"Yeah, he's here."

"What has he said?"

Was it just him or did she sound slightly panicky? Maybe Sykes was telling the truth.

"Nothing," Storm lied.

"Sykes, we need to talk, get out here now!"

"Ask her," Sykes mouthed as he walked to the door.

When Storm was alone he laid down on his bed and mulled things over. Soon enough though, he fell asleep.

----------

He was woken up later when an announcement was made.

"Will team C make their way to the elevator? I repeat, Team C to the elevator!"

Storm groaned. Team C was his team.

**Okay, that chapter sucked. The next chapter will be better though, I promise. It'l have loads more action! =D Please review! **


	4. Enemies Past, Enemies New

**Summery of Chapter Four: **An old enemy reawakens

**Disclaimer: **All original FF characters are not mine as much as I would love them to be. All characters that I have made up are mine exclusively, unless I give permission for them to be used.

**FFVIII: Dynasty**

**Chapter Four: Enemies Past, Enemies Future**

The team gathered near the elevator, bleary eyed and grumpy as their sleep had been interrupted.

The elevator doors slid open and Commander Leonhart stepped out. He gazed at them with narrowed eyes, studying them.

"Alright, you lot had better wake up properly, you have a tough battle ahead of you."

"Sir?" Storm asked.

Squall sighed. "Norg has woken up and is demanding that Balamb Garden be given back to him. Although he financed the Garden, we cannot let him be in charge as he hasn't got Garden's best interests in mind. What I want you to do is go down there and fight him. Damage him enough and he will retreat back into stasis. Just don't kill him by accident, I'm pretty sure he doesn't deserve that."

"But Dad er… Sir, won't Norg just wake up sometime in the future again?"

"We will be shipping him off to his own people as soon as we can. Really it should have been done twenty years ago. I guess people just forgot that he was there. Anyway, he has gotten stronger in all his years of stasis so be careful."

"Yes sir!" they all said at once. They watched as the Commander got back inside the elevator and headed up towards his office. They talked whilst waiting for the elevator to come down again.

"So, guys, we learnt about Norg in the History of Garden class, right? So we know his strengths and weaknesses," Storm mused.

"Yeah, I remember." Kai frowned. "If I'm right, he has two orbs that support Norg with magic."

"Red." Rheo added.

"Yes, that's right. They change colours but when they are red they support him." Nina agreed.

"So we have to stop them changing colour by hitting them?" Jon interjected.

"Right." Storm nodded. "What else do we know?"

The elevator reached their floor and they got inside.

"He doesn't like wind magic," Kai said.

"Ok, Kai, you have wind spells, right?"

"Thirty-eight Aero spells and fourteen Tornadoes."

"Use Tornado spells first, then if you run out of those use the Aeros. Damn, I should've asked Dad if we could borrow Pandemona for a while. Nevermind. Who has which GF's? I have Ifrit."

"Shiva." Jon said.

"Cactaur." That was Nina, who was looking uncomfortable squashed in the back of the lift.

"Cerberus." Kai said.

"Quezacotl." Rheo said quietly.

"Right, Quezacotl won't do much good Rheo so you just concentrate on hitting it. Kai, you might want to use Cerberus straight away. Three instead of one should get the job done quicker. Nina, Cactaur might come in handy, use him. Jon, don't worry about Shiva, she probably won't affect him too much. Has everybody got a good defence against status attacks junctioned?"

Everbody nodded and Storm thought to himself that he had a pretty good team. The elevator doors whooshed open and they stepped out.

Storm led the way, trying to be silent. He waved his team forward and pressed a finger to his lips, motioning for them to be quiet. He didn't want Norg to be alerted before they were in position.

He made out a dark lump ahead in the gloom. It had cables trailing out of it and he had to step over a few to get to Norg's pod. At the moment the pod was sealed. They gathered at the front of the pod.

"Now what?" Nina whispered.

"This," Jon said as he walked arrogantly over to the pod. "Knock knock," he said, rapping on the pod.

Jon jumped back as the pod snapped open. Norg looked down at them, an evil expression on his face.

"Fushufushu… WHO'S THERE?"

"SeeD, Norg. We are here to put you back to bed." Storm grinned wickedly.

"Burubushu… I see your FATHER in your FACE… Fushushushu. HE could NOT BEAT me… Fushu… You cannot BEAT ME."

"Enough talk Norg. Kai!"

Kaijin stepped forward and spun her staff around her head before thumping it on the ground. A deep rumble came from deep within the earth, at the very gates of hell as Cerberus charged through them. They heard a faint roar as the beast of Hell sent its magic towards them. They felt a tingling sensation as the Double and Triple spells found their bodies.

Kai started casting Tornado onto Norg who in turn charged his orbs up. One of them turned yellow and Rheo quickly stepped forward to slash at it with each of his daggers.

Norg sent a Water spell Storm's way but he quickly cast Shell. The water surrounded him and he couldn't breath. He started seeing black spots in front of his eyes before the Shell spell drove the Water magic away. He ran towards Norg to do his Renzokuken limit break. He slashed at Norg a few times before falling back, not even able to do a final attack as he was weak.

"Careful, he _is _strong," Storm managed to croak.

Nina cast Cure on her team leader before reaching down deep inside, calling Cactaur from the depths of her mind. She felt the familiar prickling and smiled, bringing him forth into reality.

Cactaur leapt into the air and started flinging needles at Norg, who screamed as he was stung in thousands of places. His job done, he retreated back into Nina's mind. She felt a faint satisfied feeling within as Cactaur settled down again.

Norg cast a spell on Jon who fell to the floor. Storm kept an eye on him, concerned. However, Jon was soon on his feet, twirling his nunchucks rapidly as he charged up his limit break. "Time Strike!"

Jon kept twirling his nunchucks until they were a blur. Fire formed around him quickly and he gathered it in front of him. When it was a giant ball in front of him he suddenly pushed forward, sending the massive ball of fire straight at Norg.

But Norg wouldn't go down that easily. He next struck out at Kai, but she had reflected herself so Norg's spell headed straight back at him.

Norg sent a dispel at Kai and her Reflect spell disappeared. He then built another offensive spell up and sent in towards Kai. However, Nina got in the way and the Death spell took her out instead.

Storm ran over to her and used a handful of Phoenix Down's to revive her. She got to her feet slowly.

Norg hit Rheo with a sleep spell, just as an orb turned red. "Kai, Esuna!" he yelled as he attacked the offending orb. When he next looked at Rheo, he was shaking the sleep spell off thanks to Kai's magic.

Storm hit Norg with Holy. "Nina, limit break!"

Nina knelt down and took aim at Norg. "Clear Vision!"

She blasted away at Norg using armour piercing ammunition, stripping away pieces of his pod. This somewhat lowered Norg's defences as well as causing him damage. The orbs stopped functioning which meant that they could not supply Norg with anymore magic than he already had.

"Buruburushu… NO! You RUINED my POD!"

"Oops! Kai, I'm going to cast Aura on you!" Nina yelled.

"Ok!"

Kai glowed yellow after Nina cast Aura on her. "Iceheart!" she cried.

Shards of what appeared to be ice twinkled in the air. Kai twirled Starsteel around and the ice zoomed towards Norg, sticking to him in layers upon layers. Finally Norg was completely encased in the stuff and he couldn't move. He was effectively frozen in stasis.

Kai shrugged and said, "That should last a few days."

"I hope so. Dad will have to move fast to get him out of Garden. Apparently he is classed as a criminal by his own people, so he will be put into their equivalent of jail." Storm said. "Good work guys."

----------

Sykes and Angela were waiting for them when they got back to the rotunda.

"Hey! You could've let me come!" Sykes moaned as he playfully punched Storm in the arm.

"You aren't SeeD yet Sykes. Hey Angela! What are you doing here? You should be in bed."

"I couldn't sleep after I heard the announcement so I went and hunted Mother down and she told me where you were. I was worried so I waited here to see if you would be ok. Then Sykes came along and asked me what was up."

"What were you doing out of the dorms so late Sykes?" Kai asked.

"I… Uh, nothing."

Nina looked at him shrewdly and noticed a leaf in Sykes' hair. "Training Centre? Tut tut Sykes."

"Secret." Rheo said smiling.

"Oh ho, you had better not have been in the Secret Area with someone. You're _my_ date Sykes."

"I wasn't! Honest! I was just killing some grats!"

Storm decided to rescue Sykes from his torment. "They're messing with you Sykes." He burst out laughing at the look on Sykes' face. "But seriously, don't let me catch you outside the dorms again after curfew. That goes for you as well Angela… Angela? Where did she get to?"

"And Jon." Kai said.

"Dammit!" Storm yelled angrily. "If they are together right now, I'm gonna… I'm gonna…"

"Shut it Storm. I'm off to bed." Nina said and walked off.

Rheo shrugged and walked off towards the dorms.

"Later." Sykes said.

"Alone again." Kai said nervously.

----------

Jon and Angela had gone to the Secret Area in the Training Centre.

Angela leaned forwards to look over the wall, down at the scenery below.

"Hey, don't do that. You scare me 'cause I think you're gonna fall."

"Haha, I won't ever fall. Wow, look at all the pretty lights."

"Yeah." Jon stared at the beauty in front of him. "Not as pretty as you though."

Angela giggled and blushed a beetroot red. "You're just saying that."

"No, it's true."

"Hmm. Hey Jon?"

"Yeah?"

"What happened to that Malboro? The one that my Dad got mad about? Storm refuses to tell me."

"Well maybe I shouldn't tell you if your brother doesn't want you to know."

"Jon!" Angela whined. "I _am _your date for my party. But something bad could happen… Something that would stop you being my date…"

"Aw, Jeez. Alright I'll tell you."

"Yay!" Angela exclaimed before hugging Jon.

Jon's brain short-circuited for a moment. "Ahh.."

Angela laughed again and let go. "Come on Jon, tell me."

"Ok, so we were in Winhill on a contract to get rid of a menace. The menace turned out to be a Malboro. Of course we were prepared for a few status attacks so we were ok except for Storm. He didn't have anything to protect him against berserk so he totally went nuts and started hacking off all of the Malboro's tentacle thingys. By the time we managed to calm him down there were tentacles and blood covering the whole town square. And you know how badly their blood sticks. I had to throw the clothes I was wearing away in the end."

Jon looked at Angela who looked decidedly green. "Sorry."

"Ugh, that's gross." Angela said.

"Well, you wanted to know. Besides, its just one of the many things that SeeD have to deal with."

"You're right. I suppose I shall have to get used to it."

"Come on, we had best be off to bed. You look cold."

Angela raised an eyebrow. "Bed?"

Jon almost tripped over. "Ah, separately."

Angela's laughter was music to his ears.

----------

Storm and Kai had moved to the second floor balcony. Neither of them were in a mood for sleeping.

"Jon had better not be with Angela right now." Storm said.

Kai frowned. "To be honest, it's none of your business what Angela or Jon do."

Storm gaped at her. "I'm her brother dammit! And he is my best friend."

"So you should trust them."

"How can I? Its instinct Kai! I can't just _not _feel protective over my little sister. And you know Jon and his reputation with women."

"Oh come on Storm! Haven't you noticed how Jon has calmed down a lot in the last six months? That is when he fell in love with Angela. You being male probably didn't notice."

"Love? Ha! I doubt it. And how could I notice something that wasn't there?"

Kai suddenly felt very angry with Storm. "You know what your problem is? You _don't _notice things. Not even when they are right in front of you!"

"What the hell do you mean?" Storm asked, even though he thought he knew.

"Nothing." Kai turned away.

"Please tell me." He waited for a response but only heard noises. "Are… Are you crying?"

"No!"

"Look, is this about the party?"

"You know damn well its more than just the party!"

Storm froze. He knew alright. The tension had been there from the start, when she and Rheo had moved from Galbadia to Balamb. He had really wanted to ask her out back then but she was vulnerable, getting over the deaths of her parents, Fujin and Raijin. They had died in an airship crash during a mission for the SeeD in Galbadia Garden. So he didn't feel comfortable asking her out then. A few months later she had started dating a guy from Balamb Town. She had eventually split up with him but by that time her and Storm had been great friends. Neither of them had wanted to ruin that friendship. However, something had broken, come to a head. Now Storm had to fix it.

He shifted, embarrassed. He had to work out how to phrase what he wanted to say next. In the end he just decided to bite the bullet and go for it.

"Kai?"

The answer was stern. "What?"

"Kai, would you… um, like to go to the party with me? Be my date?"

She whirled around and glared at him. "No."

"What? Why?" He was genuinely shocked.

"Because I don't want you to ask me because you feel obligated to."

And with that, she rushed away, leaving Storm feeling stunned.

**I prefer this chapter so much compared to the last one! Even included what happened to the Malboro for those of you who have asked. The explanation about Kaela WILL come soon but the next chapter is Angela's party! Enjoy and review =D**


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